To Kill or Not to Kill? by Patricia Smith

Capital punishment is a controversial topic. More commonly known as the death penalty, some people favor it, while others oppose it. In the article To Kill or Not to Kill by Patricia Smith, the author talks about the decline in the use of the death penalty in the US. She wants readers to know, despite it being legal in the majority of states, the use of the death penalty isn’t as high as its use in the past.

            Smith uses words like “terribly wrong” and “lethal injection” to express her opinion. She also says “high costs.” Smith says “the high costs of carrying out death sentences has been a factor,” while describing why the use of the death penalty has gone down. I think that both opinions on the death penalty are represented. Smith includes opinions that represent why the death penalty shouldn’t be used and opinions on why it should. For example, the article says, “Other death penalty supporters say that capital punishment serves as a deterrent, stopping would-be killers, since they’d fear the possibility of execution.” It also says people who oppose the death penalty say killing is wrong, no matter the crime.

            I think Smith is trying to get readers to think about the use of the death penalty. In my own opinion, I think the death penalty is wrong and isn’t justice. I think no one should play God, meaning they shouldn’t decide who gets to live or die. I also think that killing the committer of the crime would be much easier than for them to go to jail because there are worse things than death. I think the author leans more to the side that the death penalty shouldn’t be used since she uses words such as “terribly”, “lethal”, and “high costs.”

            After reading this article, my opinion hasn’t changed on whether the death penalty should be used or not. I think New York did the right thing by choosing not to use the death penalty as punishment. I would like to research more cases on botched executions (executions that went wrong) and how they went wrong.